Eden Nemesis RS410 Combo

[Muppet]

[i]Features 8/10[/i]

This is the RS410 combo amplifier From Eden’s Nemesis range. It’s 300w @ 4ohm (or 400w depending on what specs you read) in to 4 Eden manufactured speakers plus tweeter. The RS stands for Rock Series and is I guess designed to build on the successful Nemesis NC range with a bias towards rock musicians.

The amplifier is all solid state with a three band EQ, integrated compressor, a switchable semi parametric EQ section, a variable Edge control that adds a tube like sound and an ‘Enhance’ control which I think appears on a lot of Eden amps and is a variable single EQ knob that increases lows, upper mids and highs whilst cutting lower mids all at the same time.

DI out, with pre or post EQ and a DI level control, a tuner out, an effects loop and option to connect an extension cabinet can also be found at the rear. The speaker can also be switched off and a headphone jack completes the features.

It’s carpet covered, with casters and a footswitch for mute and ‘Enhance’ on/off switching, solid handles, and apparently weighs apparently 30kg, so not too heavy but not Markbass light either (thought compares well against the CMD103h).


[i]Sound Quality 7/10[/i]

I play Fender Precisions, a Lakland Darryl Jones and a Tanglewood semi acoustic through this.

I have tried the NC210 previously and also heard it used in a live situation which helped me make my purchase decision, though I can’t tell any difference in the sound quality between the RS range and the NC range.

The immediate impression of the sound is that it is very clean and very very tight. There is no boominess or woollyness in the tone and there is a surprising amount of bottom end for a cabinet loaded with 10s.

The Edge control adds a nice tube warmth to the sound, but is very subtle in the lower ranges and needs to be driven by careful use of the input gain to get a right sound as it can make your tone really awful if too much is used.

The compressor also functions from the gain control and is a little tricky to use, Once set, it’s not too bad, but I tend to use it very sparingly.

The Enhance function is very clever BUT, it is fixed. It boosts bass, upper mid and treble and cuts lower mid, increasingly as you turn it up. Fine if you like the settings that it’s tuned to operate at but if you don’t then it’s difficult to use. You could spend hours assessing all possible combinations of Enhance settings together with various manual EQ settings and miss your gig entirely. I would rather have the ability to set and store the enhanced frequencies myself.

The parametric EQ works on one selectable frequency only but is a nice touch for fine tuning, or to nail a specific sound. Again, a little goes a long way.

I’m not absolutely blown away with the sound but I’ve not found an amplifier yet that takes my breath away. I will say that for the money I am impressed and compared with similar priced combos the sound quality is much better.


[i]Reliability/Build Quality 9/10[/i]

Still fairly new so I’d hope there’s nothing wrong with it. It is built in China. That might put some off but I’ve been round it with a fine tooth comb and from the outside the build quality looks great, although I hate carpet covering.

All surfaces fit cleanly, no sharp edges, the pots are firm and turn smoothly, the knobs are metal, the speakers don’t rattle and the tweeter doesn’t hiss and unlike Ashdown stuff the metal grill covering won’t slice your fingers off.


[i]Customer Support 4/10[/i]

Well I can’t say much about the Eden customer support as I’ve not had the opportunity to deal a lot with them, I did email them about UK availability of this particular amp and never got a response back, so I guess that counts. They seem to place high importance on their relationship with their users and try to promote their user forum in their literature, though cynics might suggest this is just additional cheap advertising and support.

I really hope it doesn’t go wrong as I’ve no idea whether there’s a UK service centre. I don’t even know if there’s another unit in this country given the difficulty I had in obtaining one. Given that there is no UK distributor and that I had to source the amp from Germany (who in turn sourced it from The Netherlands) then any warranty claim is going to be fun.


[i]Overall Rating 7/10[/i]

I have a number of niggles with this amp. The blue lighting is impossibly bright to the extent that settings are obscured under low light (as during gigs). This is not good. The knobs are a lovely dark nickel with poor markings so even without the light it would be difficult to see your settings.

The handle placement means that it’s difficult to lift the amp any great height so stairs are a nuisance and a two man lift results in grazed ankles.

The quality of the casters are not too good, though this might be a ‘feature of other Eden products also.

It’s front ported and the port is right in the middle of the four drivers which make it look a little unfinished.

It’s a high end budget combo; but budget only in comparison terms with other Eden gear. At £650 imported from Germany, it ain’t cheap but good value for money.

This compares well to the Markbass CMD103h in terms of weight, size and power output but at around £250 cheaper is well worth considering.

[Oxblood]

Now that's what I call a review! Excellent pictures and a very clear assessment of the pros and cons. Nice one, mate. I agree about the blue logo. I had experience of it with Thumper's Nemesis head. Blinding. They could do with making the controls light up instead.

[Mike]

Fantastic review, and most helpful to me! Thanks - 5 stars!